This invention provides a device which is simple, compact, portable and hand held for efficient and rapid loading of rimmed cartridges into rifle magazines. The age old problem of loading rifle tube type magazines is well recognized in the prior art, which is replete with various devices which attempt to solve the problem. U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,273 to Lach contains a detailed disclosure of column 1, lines 10-44 of the problem of hand loading rimmed cartridges into a rifle magazine one-by-one in proper nose to base, end-to-end orientation, which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.
The prior art devices solve the above cartridge loading problem in various ways, but each leave something to be desired in terms of convenience, simplicity, versatility and, in general, practicality. The Lach device is complex and requires use in combination with separate loading tubes, which are used to actually load the rifle magazine. Loading tubes and the Lach device are not convenient for the hunter or marksman to carry. In addition, the Lach device and loading tubes are not practical for rapid loading of rifle magazines having side port entry for the cartridges as opposed to open end entry. U.S. Pat. Nos. 869,632 to Hockett; 1,178,785 to Debuchy; 1,405,508 to Endres; 2,981,024 to Skoff; and 3,242,609 to Koistinen are illustrative of various devices for loading rifle magazines. Almost all of these prior art devices require one-by-one hand loading of the cartridges into the device. Therefore, once the cartridges are discharged from the device into the rifle magazine, the hunter or marksman is again faced with the problem of loading the cartridges one by one into the device and/or the rifle magazine. Only Debuchy and Lach provide the potential of bulk loading and reloading of the device, but they lack the flexibility and simplicity desired for rapid reloading.